Vitamin D Intake Linked to Reduced Risk for Progression to Diabetes

TUESDAY, Feb. 7, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- For individuals with prediabetes, vitamin D supplementation is associated with a reduced risk for progression to diabetes, according to a review published online Feb. 7 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Anastassios G. Pittas, M.D., from Tufts Medical Center in Boston, and colleagues examined whether administration of vitamin D reduces the risk for diabetes among individuals with prediabetes in a systematic review and meta-analysis. Data were included from three randomized trials, which assessed cholecalciferol 20,000 IU weekly, cholecalciferol 4,000 IU daily, or eldecalcitol 0.75 mcg daily compared to matching placebos.

The researchers found that in adjusted analyses, the risk for diabetes was significantly reduced with vitamin D (hazard ratio, 0.85), with a 3.3 percent three-year absolute risk reduction. In prespecified subgroups, there was no difference in the effect of vitamin D. Cholecalciferol reduced the risk for diabetes significantly among participants assigned to the vitamin D group who maintained an intratrial mean serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level of at least 125 nmol/L versus 50 to 74 nmol/L during follow-up (hazard ratio, 0.24), with an 18.1 percent three-year absolute risk reduction. The likelihood of regression to normal glucose regulation was increased with vitamin D (rate ratio, 1.30). There were no differences in the rate ratios for adverse events, including kidney stones, hypercalcemia, hypercalciuria, and death.

"Vitamin D in people with prediabetes was beneficial in decreasing risk for diabetes and increasing the likelihood of regression to normal glucose regulation, with no offsetting safety signals," the authors write.

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